Archive - Aug 10, 2005

A heads up for the misinfomed, uninformed, and the clueless: In nine days, I will have packed my bags and left for the opposite side of the planet, to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I’ll be trying to figure out exactly what this Computer Science thingy is all about; in particular trying to make sense of what all this “Databases and Information Retrieval” drivel means.

Speaking of drivel, have you noticed how “Data Mining” is a gross misnomer? Data means unprocessed computer gobbledegook, and Information means neat cool stuff humans can comprehend and make use of it. When we mine for something, the result is what we assign the term for; for example coal mining means we break through rock to extract coal. So if we’re looking for information, why do we call it data mining? This is like you look for gold and then call yourself a gunk-miner. Yuck.

I am still not feeling witty enough, but I’m getting this strange frustrating feeling that happens to me during sensory overload. The euphoria still remains, but there’s also this feeling of inadequacy of some sort… It’s almost (but not quite) like trying to hug a huge teddy bear, and not being able to get even a tenth of it in your grasp, but still trying to hang on to it, giggling.